The LifeDrive for a new generation.

22May05

Here are just a few of the articles that attempt to compare any recently released PDA to the father of what the PDA will eventually become. First up is the latest entry from PalmOne, the LifeDrive. You can read a review of the Life Drive (the so-called next step of the PDA) over at USA Today

The original Pilot wasn’t the first personal digital assistant. (Quick show of hands: Who among you bought an Apple Newton?) But it was the first to breathe fire into the category.

Next up is the Tablet PC, which may gain a huge boost by the “soon” to be released Windows Longhorn. Adding a Newton-sized Tablet PC isn’t going to make a laptop as easy to use as a PDA. But find out over at Computeractive exactly how they fold the Newton into the Tablet PC world.

Perhaps it has in mind Apple’s pioneering pen-driven Newton handheld, which was killed as much by hype-driven expectations as by its poor reading skills.

It just amazes me that even though the first release of the Newton’s recognizer for handwritten text wasn’t the best ever invented (1993 wasn’t the most technological time of our lives) but it steadily grew into something that worked very well. I think it’s just easier for anyone wanting to prove that they “knew” the Apple Newton was a failure before anyone else can pick up the same sign and wave it around, creating a viewpoint without ever using a Newton for themselves.